


It's Gonna Be Me

by Kelly123



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Karaoke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-23
Packaged: 2017-12-28 10:31:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelly123/pseuds/Kelly123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pretty much, she had the perfect part-time job...</p><p>It was just that green-eyed, blonde part that gave her trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. you might been hurt, babe

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title is courtesy of an Nsync song. Blame my discovery of the Boy Band station on Pandora.
> 
> I'm writing something chaptered...Lord help us all. They are fairly short ones, and hopefully I can get them up quickly. Please bear with me and enjoy!

If this had been anyone else's life, the night could have gone so very, very differently.

For starters, it had all started out as what seemed for all intents and purposes to be a promising Friday night. She was twenty-one years old, single, in college, and, surprise surprise...holed up in a dorm room. 

She being one Brienne Tarth, junior year university student and all-around world-class introvert. The fact that she was spending her weekend in such a manner would have surprised absolutely no one on the small island where she had grown up...had there been anyone to tell. Well, there was her dad, but he was always encouraging her to get out more, so it wouldn't do any good to share that with him. However, it would have come as quite a shock, were the information to get around to anyone else, that she was not the room's sole inhabitant, and that it wasn't her dorm.

It would have been even more sensational if her companion had been a man...a straight man at that, all alone with her. Probably not a good sensation, if her history with single, straight men were any measure to judge it by, followed by whispered snickering and malicious gossip. That had been in High School back home, and one here needed to know anything about it.

At least Hyle had gone to school on the East coast, thank the seven.

So no, she was hanging out with a girl (a straight girl, just in case anyone wanted to start those rumors again), which was still worlds away from the solitary lifestyle she had adopted for so long. Not a girl she was tutoring or babysitting either, for the first time ever she had an honest-to-God, bosom buddy-type girlfriend, and they were on their way to a bar. A bar in which she (they), surprisingly enough, worked. Not some ratty hole-in-the-wall place either, it was a cool bar, on a cool street, and she was hanging out with one of its coolest employees.

Brienne herself, though, was still undeniably the antithesis of cool, no matter how much she suddenly found herself surrounded by it.

Not that she was pursuing those sorts of situations, though. Of all people to be taken aback by Brienne Tarth's current circumstances, the top of that list would have to be headed by the awkward girl herself.

For starters, she had never even been to a bar before she started working at one. Why would she? Those sorts of steablishments were all full of tiny girls in tinier clothing, alternately vying for and fighting off the attention of man-boys who had drank too much liquid courage to have any semblance of common sense left. Brienne had already experienced enough of the testosterone-fueled tough guy bravado from playing on all-male sports teams for most of her life without having to experience it mixed with alcohol as well.

But then, life happened (as it all too often does).

Not long into her college education, Brienne's new life began to crumble before it ever really began. Her father lost his job and almost lost their house, and she would have very likely lost her college education as well, were it not for her athletic scholarship which provided an almost full-ride. Almost, though, famously doesn't count for much, so for Brienne that meant getting a job to make up the difference. Though her father seemed to be making some headway at his new company, she certainly was not going to ask him for any of the money he was managing to scrape together if she could help it.

Thing was, stamping envelopes and making coffee runs for your dad's secretary when you were seventeen didn't count for much in the ways of 'work experience' when it came down to resumes. Luckily, she had strangely enough made a kind-of friend in the (devishly handsome) TA for her econ class, and Renly had shared that he brought in pretty decent money tending bar at 'The Keep.' He even told her that they could use another bouncer on weekends, so...

The rest was history.

A strange, very unlikely sort of history, but one she had decided was actually turning out to be pretty cool (as was getting an actual paycheck).

So here she was, on a Friday, in a dorm, with a friend... when she should have been on her way to work. Instead she lay flopped across a narrow dorm bed with sheets way too pink to belong to her, and checked her watch.

"You're going to make us late." 

She said the words with no real conviction, knowing to do so wouldn't make a difference. Her shift started in fifteen minutes, and the drive was just as long, but none of that seemed to matter since her ride showed no signs of moving from in front of her dorm room mirror. 

Every weekend for the past month, she had made the trek across campus to Sansa Stark's dorm, and every weekend she made a point to be ten minutes earlier than their agreed arrival time. She had thought that she could maybe impress upon the underclassman the importance of punctuality, be a good influence on her, but so far...it hadn't worked. 

Logically, it would stand to reason that she might have learned her lesson by now. By any reasonable assumption she should have just sucked it up and taken the money out of savings to have her alternator fixed instead of hitching a ride with her younger coworker to the bar every Friday and Saturday night, but evidently that wasn't going to happen. Her father had told her all her life she was as stubborn as a mule, and if anyone knew her best, he certainly did. And so she (stubbornly) continued to be early...while Sansa continued to make them late.

Still, she couldn't bring herself to actually get angry over the situation. Being harsh with someone as sweet as Sansa was like kicking a puppy (which made her ex-boyfriend Joffrey's assholism even more unimaginable). She knew the girl didn't have a hateful bone in her body, and she even saw a bit of her own naively reflected in some of Sansa's childish selfishness.

Plus, Sansa always stuck up for her when the situation arose, and for that she was eternally grateful.

Just as she had anticipated she would have to, Brienne composed her typical text to the volume bartender, a sophomore named Margaery, that the two of them were going to be late. 

She really doubted she needed to do that anymore, it was so expected, but still. It was the principle of the matter. 

"I'll let Margie know we're running behind, see if she can get Loras to cover for me until we get there."

True to form, the redhead smiled as genuinely as humanly possible in the mirror at the larger girl slumped against her headboard and chirped out an apology just as heartfelt. 

"Sorry Brie! I'm almost done, promise!"She said...as she continued to take her time darkening her eyeliner.

Sighing with no real gusto behind it, Brienne sent the message and began to gnaw absentmindedly at her fingernails. Sansa would berate her for the habit, but right now she was too preoccupied with her kohl pencil to notice. 

When it came down to it, being a little late wasn't really that big of a deal, as much as she hated to admit it. Loras, Margie's older brother and another bouncer at work, would no doubt be sticking around the bar anyway tonight, and wouldn't mind watching the door for her until she finally made it there. Though her shift technically started at six, the night wouldn't really pick up for another couple of hours, at least. It was still frustrating to her though, because it had been hard enough to convince the manager that a female could be a bouncer in the first place, that to follow it up with perpetual tardiness felt like a letdown on her part.

Really though, she doubted Tyrion even noticed. As bosses went, he was pretty cool, though she hasn't had much of anything else to compare his managing skills to. He was smarter than most people gave him credit for, and she couldn't help but to hold a strange sort of respect for his cleverness, despite how devious it may be. She wasn't still quite so naive so as to believe everything at the bar was run strictly on the level, but she had heard enough about what was expected of the all-female employees at 'LittleFinger's' to be grateful for what she had.

Still, it was usually a rare occasion that Tyrion let his intelligence show. She doubted the bar would have flourished the way it had without his influence, but most of his managerial work was kept hidden behind the scenes. At work, he almost always smelled a little bit like whiskey, and he was never one for turning his nose at at taking the occasional shot (or four) with his patrons. To say the least, he was usually far too busy chatting up the ladies at the bar to worry about when his bouncers changed shifts. All that really mattered was that she did her job dutifully and kept the minors and the fighters out, and in return he gave her a chance when the other bars flat out laughed at her. 

Pretty much, she had the perfect part-time job...for the most part.

It was just that green-eyed, blonde part that gave her trouble.


	2. (that ain't no lie)

Sansa had thirteen framed pictures decorating her tiny dorm.

Brienne should know, she had counted them...on several occasions. Her friend was the sort to be a little overly-fond of duck faced posing, but she managed to see past that.

When she was finally finished, Sansa smacked her glossy lips one last time with a satisfied pop and grabbed her apron from off the dresser. Sighing in relief, Brienne lurched to her feet anxiously. The first Friday of the month was karaoke night at the bar, and always pulled a big crowd. As a shot girl Sansa was bound to make bank on the occasion regardless of whether or not she doubled up on the make-up, but try telling her she didn't need that extra smokey, smokey eye. 

Sculpted eyebrows raised, Sansa waggled the red tube of gloss in Brienne's directions hopefully before shrugging her shoulders in defeat at the face she pulled and stuffing it inside her apron pocket.

"If you would just give me one more chance, Brie, it could be so much fun! I found this new concealer that I totally think would work on your freckles."

"Thanks, but no thanks...again."

Somehow the two had developed a rather unlikely friendship, in spite of their differences and Brienne's constant refusal of Sansa's offers to give her a makeover. There had been one night that she had given in to the younger girl's wheedling, but she preferred not to think about it. Sansa's attempt at recreating a pintrest highlighting and shading tutorial had left Brienne's broad, plain features looking utterly un-accentuated and more like a fake-baked fool, no matter how Margie and the perpetrator had argued with her otherwise. It wouldn't have been so bad if they stopped there, though. At least of most the stuff had washed off easily enough, and no one else had the chance to glimpse her like that. 

She still shuddered at the finished product.

Powders and blushes hadn't been enough for the instigators, though, and the deep crimson lip stain Sansa used had discolored her mouth for almost two days, no matter how she had scrubbed at it. If anything, the exfoliative wash Margie had sworn by just irritated and reddened her already overly-full lips even more, and just in time for the weekend, too. Though she had tried to get Loras to cover for her that night, she had ended up having to spend an entire shift looking like someone punched her, pow, right in the kisser.

Or at least, that was how certain people had phrased it.

It had been another karaoke event then, and probably one of the worst evenings she had been forced to endure since coming to college. Tonight was her first such shift since that disastrous night, and if she was being totally honest with herself she didn't think he would totally mind if Sansa made them late enough to miss the whole thing. The kind of crowd karaoke tended to draw wasn't composed of her favorite people.

Brienne was by no means a shrinking violet. She was not pretty, never had been and never would be, and she knew what that meant. She was used to getting heckled by guys in general, especially the more inebriated ones at the bar, and she had known the state of her face that night wasn't going to help matters any. There were the typical unimaginative retorts about her size and assumed sexual preference as expected, but as luck would have it, there was this one guy who just didn't know when to quit.

He wasn't even singing, just standing there making fun of the people who were...until he noticed her at the door. Then he abandoned them in favor of the bouncer. She tried her best to ignore his taunts, to turn the other cheek like she had her whole life, but when he had insinuated how she would love to feel like a woman, and offered to be man enough to show her, he crossed a line. Seriously dude, enough was enough.

"Sir, go back to the bar. I'm not going to ask you again."

"Or we could go back somewhere else. Like my place. I could show you a few things...womanly things. Not many guys are strong enough for the task," he had said, smirking laviciously while staring at her mouth. His gaze flickered up to catch her eye and he flexed effortlessly while leaning against the wall next to her, "but I am."

He was so undoutedly sure of himself, that she had wanted to punch him right in his perfect face. She felt herself getting angry all over again at the memory...and then humiliated even more.

Kicking out the drunkards always brought jeers and cheers from the patrons, but when grabbing the man by the collar to throw him out on the curb effectively ushered the entire bar into silence, uneasiness crept up her neck. She thought something was up, but she had no idea just how big of a high society faux pas she had just unknowingly committed. 

Honestly though, how was she supposed to know that Mr. TooCool giving her crap about banging horses at the door was her boss's brother...and subsequently co-owner of the place? Wasn't he too old be hanging out at these kinds of establishments anyway?

She still remembered all too clearly the sound of his laughter ringing in her ears so loudly amid the silence around them as she let go of him, and how Renly had left his spot behind the well to come tug her aside and tell her who the swimsuit model wannabe really was.

"Sorry Jaime, Brienne's new around here."

"Just here? I could have sworn she was new to the human race." He had remarked before winking and swaggering back to the bar. Renly smiled sympathetically and laid a kind hand on her shoulder.

"Brienne, sweetie, have you ever heard of Jaime Lannister?"

That, of course, had done nothing to quell the deep-seated infatuation she was readily developing for the head bartender. He was nice to her, like genuinely and seemingly without ulterior motives (not to mention being absolutely beautiful), and he had stood up for her when she wanted to shrink into the floor and melt after Jaime Lannister embarrassed the living daylights out of her. 

Sure, now she gets that she had been pathetically naive in her crush, but finding the other bouncer and him...indisposed in the walk-in had helped loads for clearing up any confusion as to whether or not she might have had a shot.

Such a time was a prime example of when she was grateful for her friendship in Sansa, whose own gaydar was just as as out of whack as her own. Evidently, the other girl had been harboring her own massive crush on Loras, with Margie uncharacteristically keeping her mouth shut the whole time. So when the two guys finally came out as a couple, Sansa and Brienne ate their feelings into submission with a heavy helping of the kind of men who would never let a girl down...Ben and Jerry.

Not that you could ever tell that Sansa indulged in such fattening habits by the look of her in her bar 'uniform' now, of course. Though the guys were simply clothed in red t-shirts which bore the bar's name, Tyrion evidently was of the 'less is more' school of thought when clothing his female employees, although luckily that hadn't applied to herself. Grateful as she was for the modest cut of her own shirt, Brienne couldn't help but to wish for some of Sansa's easy confidence in her revealing outfit as they finally left the room to make their way to the campus's garage. 

Still though, she couldn't help but to wonder what Mr. and Mrs. Stark thought their daughter's weekend job actually consisted of, or if they had ever seen what she wore. Call her old-fashioned, but she was pretty sure they would be less than crazy about their teenaged daughter running around in hot pants and a glorified sports bra while pouring drinks down random guy's throats. From what she gathered, Sansa's parents thought her a cocktail waitress of some sort, which was just close enough to the truth that Brienne didn't feel too bad about fibbing a little. 

Sansa herself didn't seem too worried about it. At least, her uniform covered more skin than Margie's did, and if any of the guests got too handsy there was always a coworker nearby to help set him straight. She was a good girl, and everyone knew it, parents included. 

Brienne had met Sansa before they were coworkers, albeit briefly. Brienne had done an (unpaid) internship for Sansa's mom up North the summer before she started working at the bar, while Sansa was still in high school. Athough Mrs. Stark had never outright asked her to look out for her daughter when she was accepted to Kings, she felt like she owed it to the woman. She had never known her own mother, who had died while she was still a baby, and Mrs. Stark was as great of one as she had ever met. Brienne knew she worried about her eldest daughter so far away at school in the South. Besides, Brienne liked to be a kind of protector...and she had always wanted siblings.

However, Brienne wasn't the only one keeping tabs on Sansa. One reason the Starks had agreed to let her attend a university so far away was due to the fact that her big brother was in grad school in the same city. Robb Stark, along with a frequently visiting half-brother were the overprotective sort, according to their sister, and most definitely would not approve of the looks their male guests graced her with. Sansa had given Brienne strict orders that if a redheaded guy who looked like herself or a dark haired one with 'Snow' on his ID ever tried to get into the bar, she was on no condition to let them enter. Ever. Like, on pain of death, and not even then. 

So far the situation hadn't arisen, though she had denied admission to a very intoxicated Theon Greyjoy once. The guynwas a close friend of her brother's from forever, and though it probably would have been a good idea to call Robb to pick him up (he was probably at home studying, after all) Sansa vehemently refused. Instead they phoned his girlfriend, a friend of Sansa's from back home named Jeyne, to come and take him home. He promptly threw up on her shoes and Renly had had to half carry, half drag him to Jeyne's car, so he wasn't likely to be leaking much information regarding the night to his friends.

She wasn't terribly concerned with keeping Sansa's brothers out of the bar. Nor was she worried much about a repeat performance from Greyjoy. No, she was dreading the arrival of the only person she had no power to turn away at the door.

In the end, she needn't have worried.

He was already there when she arrived.


	3. you've seen them all come and go

It was still early enough in the evening for the bar to be mostly empty when they finally arrived, and Brienne took a cautious look around before stepping inside.

Much to her chagrin, she discovered the karaoke regular just where she had tried to convince herself he might not be. despite her lies to herself, the person she least wanted to see was sitting alongside her boss carrying on an easy conversation like he belonged there. She supposed in a way he might, since he owner part of the place, but she didn't appreciate the way he chose to treat his employees...at least this time her mouth resembled its normally abnormal self.

And he was certainly his normal, abnormal (-ly handsome) self. Though she hasn't had a clue who Jaime Lannister was the first time they met, now she would be able to spot him and his designer clothes and cocky swagger anywhere. 

Unfortunately.

She tried to slip in the side employee entrance unannounced, crossing her fingers that she could clock in and make it to the door before the blonde man at the bar noticed her, but she should have known better. Not when the Tyrells were concerned.

Brienne had met both Loras and Margie when she started working at the bar, and she still didnt know quite what to thinkof the siblings. Loras was her friend, in a way, just like everyone at work was, but he was far more like his sister in his meddlesome ways for her to ever truly trust him. And so, she couldn't say she was surprised when he rushed at her from the front, enveloping her in a hug that was not welcomed and singing out her name at the top of his lungs.

"Look who's here! Brienne, doll, you owe me a drink!"

"You're still on the clock, Tyrell." Tyrion said, looking up at the two of them amusedly while Brienne tried to wriggle out of the pretty man's embrace. "But why exactly is that? Didn't your shift end awhile ago?"

Breaking free from his hold, Brienne blushed violently as the entire bar (or really, the handful of men at the counter), turned to stare at the spectacle Loras had made of them. Though she would have much rather melted into the flooring, her fellow bouncer was relishing the attention, making matters even worse by pinching her cheek and exchanging a wink with Renly.

"I look too good rocking the uniform to take it off boss! But I'll clock out now and let both you and Brie buy me a drink, how does that sound. Renly, you know what to do."

Brienne managed to stammer out an apology, but she knew she wasn't really in any trouble. In fact, it had only taken half a second to diffuse the tension before hardly anyone was aware of her presence any longer. Leave it to Loras shrugging out of his work shirt for the tight black T he wore underneath to quickly draw the eye of Renly and every female (besides Brienne and his sister) in the bar. Tyrion was equally distracted by drink the bartender slipped in front of him, and Margie and Sansa were busy giggling together and assembling the Jell-O shots for the night.

In fact, Brienne could have very well forgotten she had ever been the center of attention, had she not felt one pair of eyes which remained glued to her tall figure.

She was not going to give him the satisfaction of meeting his gaze. She was just going to stick to her original plan of completely ignoring his existence, and hopefully the night would be over before she knew it. After all, it wasn't like he was going to stick around until last call...was he?

But then there was a loud smacking of lips and she should have known better than to turn to look for its source, but the sound caught her off guard. So she glanced over her shoulder and there he was, out of his seat and moving towards her, pouting his lips with a glint in his green eyes that should be no means have been visible in the dim bar lighting. From the corner of her eye she caught her boss shaking his head as his brother walked away from him, and something sunk in the pit of her stomach.

She wasn't quite sure what that meant, but whatever it was, it couldn't be anything good.

She tried to pull her lips in, sucking them between her buckish teeth in a poor attempt to make her mouth look smaller, but his low chuckle let her know it wasn't working. He was going to try and make a fool of her, teasing her about her appearance like he had before, but this time she wouldn't let him get to her.

Ignore him, ignore him, the plan was to ignore him.

He sidled up to the other side of the doorway which she stood, guard-like, in front of, leaning against the wall with effortless grace. Tapping his stumbled chin with one finger, he donned a puzzled countenance. "Something's different about you tonight, wench. Something's...missing."

"What did you just call me?"

So evidently, ignorance was not working for her.

"Wench, as in bar wench. You know, busty tavern slag, hefting foaming glasses and...well on second thought, you are lacking a few of the prerequisites." His hand gestures left nothing to the imagination.

"You're thinking of Margaery. Over there." She felt half guilty about shoving the Lannister off on her coworker (who was up to her elbows in sudsy water washing glasses), but she knew the bartender was more than capable of taking care of herself. And not to be petty, but it wouldn't have killed Margie to give Brienne a little warning about just who lay in wait for her at the bar. She had been there last month, she remembered her humiliation at Jaime's hands, didn't she?

Brienne didn't know much about girlfrienships, but she got the idea that Margie wasn't exactly one to play by the rules.

Jaime glanced back, seemingly unaffected by Margie's damp' skin-tight crop top."Oh I know the Tyrell girl. And she is definitely not who I am thinking of."

Huh. She didn't like this. Not the predatory way he was looking at her, not the glint in his eye or the crook in his smile, or the way he pretty much seemed dauntless in his ability to do whatever he wanted, whenever, and to whomever.

Well, maybe a part of her felt envious of that kind of unquestionable confidence, but another glance his direction proved to her with absolute certainty that she could never want to be or be associated with anything like what this man embodied.

Turning away, she squared her shoulders and stared down a few loitering undergrads (obviously minors), who glanced nervously between her and Jaime before moving along down the street.

They made an intimidating pair, to be certain...if an undoubtedly awkward one. 

As he continued to berate her for her size, occupation, and previous manhandling, Brienne began to doubt her ability to ignore the Lannister leach she had found herself an unwilling host to. He, on the other hand seemed utterly undeterred by her silence and quite capable of rambling on without any feedback from her. She swore to herself that she would not give in and make eye contact with him again, no matter what he egged her on with, but in the end it was his silence which caught her attention.

He had been humming along to an utterly inappropriate Rihanna song on the bar's playlist (his one contribution to ownership, and a shoddy one at that in her opinion), but after a particularly animalistic grunt he grew quiet. When she failed to feel his eyes crawling over her skin she could scarcely believe her good luck. Curious, she dared a glance beneath her lashes, and found him shooting a glare at a stranger's back outside.

But Jaime Lannister had enemies. Everyone knew that. 

"You two cuties having fun up here?"

Brienne couldn't decide whether to shoot Margie a withering glare for her comment or a grateful smile for the interruption. Instead she settled for issuing a nondescript, 'harrumph' and accepting the bottle of water the pretty girl handed her.

"My companion is an absolutely invigorating conversationalist, as I'm sure you know." Jaime replied, his tightly clenched jaw releasing seamlessly into a charming smirk as he turned his attention back towards the inside, "But where is my water?"

"Oops. My hands were full." She shrugged her shoulders coyly and he rolled his eyes in consent, finally relenting in his onslaught against the bouncer.

"Obviously."

As their boss retreated back to the bar, Brienne let her body sag against the door frame gratefully as she opened the water bottle. "Thank you so unbelievably much. I don't think he ever would have given up."

"No problem, you attract the handsome playboys, and I'll run them off for you. Though I feel like something about this scenario is a bit off."

The taller girl blushed, "I'm not attracting him, I'm not doing anything to him. He's just hanging around here and bothering me to make me look stupid."

"Sure...he just doesn't want anyone else to be able to do the same.."

Perplexed (as she all too often was by Margie' feminine wiles), she tilted her head and asked in confusion, "what in the world are you talking about?" 

She felt the breath knocked out other when Margie replied-

"Do you know somebody named Connington?"


	4. i remember you told me

Brienne hadn't heard that name in a very long time, and yet it still hadn't been long enough.

Pain like a well-aimed sucker punch to the stomach engulfed her as her mind throttled backwards in time. Against her own will she thought back to her disastrous senior year in high school, and the prom date her well-meaning dad had set her up with. Her father, so optimistic about her prospects, still had no idea of what really happened that night, of a date that was over before it began and the boy who had hurt her to her core...no, she didn't think any span of time would ever be long enough to remove dad's hopeful smile and Ronnet's cruel sneer from her memory.

"What did he...umm, how do you know him?" She stuttered, the unwelcome memories filling her mind unbidden.

"Oh I don't, thank goodness. But Renly was working last night and evidently some guy with that name came up here spouting off a bunch of crap. Total jerk, or at least that was what he told my brother, and Loras told me, and, well, you know..."

Her cheeks flamed red as her skin burned hot with shame. "What did he say? Umm, was it about me?"

She glanced behind them to the bar, where Renly was pouring Jaime a drink while Tyrion cuffed his brother on the shoulder endearingly. They were all wearing mismatched grins and chuckling amongst themselves, causing her heart to clench at the thought of what. She was suddenly terrified that she might be the subject of their amusement, an old habit that had not died out quite as well as she had hoped.

It was true she was used to making fun of her...but that didn't meant hurt any less.

Margie's pretty face crinkled, like she had tasted something unexpectedly sour. "It doesn't matter, because he didn't get the chance to say much, once Jaime heard him."

"Excuse me?"

When did that too-pretty man-boy come in? 

Everything about the statement sounded utterly wrong to her ears. Why was Ronnet Connington down here in the South, why was he at her bar, and what in the seven hells did Jaime Lannister have to do with any of it? For someone she hadn't know very long, she was suddenly finding far too much of her life intertwined with the trust funder. And now with Ronnet in the mix, her stomach dropped. She had a fleeting vision of the two men conspiring over their common bond...a plot to ruin her.

Biting her lip, she once again wished that she had just let Sansa cause her to miss her entire shift.

Margie giggled at her bewildered expression, and apologized for her vagueness with a hint of gloating in her voice which implied she wasn't the slightest bit remorseful at all. Brienne expected that she was actually truly delighted with the prospect of holding onto such an interesting piece of gossip, and that she had been waiting all night for the opportunity to share it. While she normally shied away from these sorts of conversations, she couldn't bring herself to chastise Margie for spreading rumors when she found herself uncharacteristically desperate for details.

Just what had Ronnet told Jaime...and vice versa?

Leaning forward conspiratorially, Margie's voice dropped an octave as she explained to Brienne how Renly had been the closer last night, and that some drunk guy had showed up shortly before last call and caused a bit of a ruckus. Thursdays could be a busy night in college towns, what with the overall lack of Friday classes, but the crowds had died out early that evening. Loras had been at the door, but he was already cut by that time, so Renly checked the man's ID himself. When he noticed his home address was in the same tiny island town as Brienne's, he happened to ask if they knew each other.

Brienne's heart lurched at the poor choice.

"He did what!"

"Oh calm down Brie! How was Renly supposed to know the guy was such a douchenozzle? Hardly anyone has even heard of Evenhall, he thought you two might have been friends in high school or something."

Brienne grumbled something under her breath about not having any friends in high school, but Margie just pursed her lips disapprovingly and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Anyway, he found out pretty quickly that you two weren't exactly bff's. That guy isn't very pleasant, is he?"

"No...my dad tried to set us up back home. It didn't go very well." She answered, wincing at the thought.

"Yeah, that was kind of what Renly gathered, through the expletives at least. Why didn't you tell us Brienne? That's the kind of thing that friends need to know about each other."

"I didn't...I didn't figure it would every come up. I didn't think it mattered."

"Brie...." Margie shook her head, a pained look flickering across her face, "of course it matters. You matter to us, we're your friends, and we care about you. You know that right? You know you can trust us with anything?"

"Umm yeah. I mean, I guess."

But the thing was, she didn't. Every time she had trusted someone (well, except of course for her father), it had not ended well for her. She trusted Hyle, and she trusted Ronnet, and even though it didn't extend to the same sort of betrayal, she had trusted Renly too. And where had all of that lead to? Mockery and humiliation and a the ever-present feeling that she should have known better.

Was she being naive to trust Margie? Or were things in her life finally beginning to fall into a place where that might not be such a stupid thing to do?

The moment held a weighted pause which left the corners of Brienne's eyes prickling dangerously. Luckily, Margie sensed the overwhelming cloud of awkwardness hanging over the situation and didn't push the issue. Brienne breathed a sigh of relief as the other girl moved on.

"Anyway, of course Renly was going to kick the guy out of here, because no one is going to talk about you like that around us...but someone beat him to it."

Margie grinned triumphantly, letting the emphasis rest on 'someone' and Brienne tried not to let her jaw drop open. Judging from how the conversation had been set up, she had a pretty good guess at just who Margie was referring to, but she couldn't make her mind wrap around it.

"Jaime?"

"Oh yeah! That cocky Lannister we love to hate was on his feet and up in that guy's face the very second he started bad-mouthing you. Evidently stupid didn't know when to leave well enough alone, though, because before you know it, Jaime's got him laid out over the bar."

"What?!"

"Yup, knocked him clean out. You know Jaime used to box when he was in the service, right?"

"What?!"

She was beginning to feel like a broken record, but she couldn't help it right now. There was no way the same guy who had utterly humiliated her last month was defending her now. He had said so many horrible things to her, and seemed to utterly enjoy every minute of it. Even after she tried to kick him out his smile hadn't faltered, and when he could have very well had her fired for such, he didn't. It just didn't make any sense. They couldn't stand each other...right?

"He can't do that. He can't just go around punching guests, the bar is going to get in trouble." She grumbled, trying her best not to let her gaze drift back over to the object of their discussion like it seemed so inclined to do. "There are like, harassment laws and stuff against that."

"Yeah, and Ronnet was harassing you. Besides, haven't you figured out, laws don't exactly apply to Lannisters."

"Guess not. Is he okay?"

"Oh classic Brienne...you can't seriously be worried about either of them? Obviously Jaime is fine. He's been posted up here all day, making sure jerk face doesn't show up for a repeat performance. Not likely, considering the way Renly said he dropped last night. I'm pretty sure you're safe from him now, what with your loyal protector around."

"Oh don't be ridiculous Margie. I don't need a protector,and even if I did, there's no way it would be Jaime Lannister."

"Sure...you don't have any other secret suitors tucked away do you?"

Brienne bit a ragged fingernail, nervously wondering if the mess with Hyle was the sort of thing that Margie was talking about earlier. "Umm, well there was this one other time, back home..."

"Oh Brie, what are we going to do with you?"


	5. that it made you believe in no man no cry

There was a reason Brienne had wanted to attend college so far from home.

Or rather, reasons. Yes, Kings had a fantastic literature department unlike anywhere else in the states, and yes, she had a wonderful scholarship here and no, she hadn't really applied anywhere else, but there were other... motivations. Such as reasons named Hyle Hunt and Ronnet Connington, first and foremost, not to mention all the other nameless but not quite faceless boys who had laughed at her every day of school, and the girls who had egged them on relentlessly when her back was turned. 

But that was high school. That was immaturity and stupidity and supposed to be far, far behind her. So why was it coming back now?

She had known that moving from a high school senior to a college freshman wouldn't automatically instill civility and chivalry in her peers, but she had hoped things might be different here. For the most part, they were (or rather, had been). 

Having had always been a rather unusually big fish in an extremely small pond, she was used to being somebody people remembered back in Evenfall, and not typically for good reasons. Here though, there were so many more faces in the crowd to get lost in, that even her broad one wasn't cause for much pause. It had been such a nice change to go from being 'Brienne the beauty,' to just Brienne...Sansa's friend, or Brienne who works with Loras. Honestly, Brienne who takes good notes in stats was even a welcome change.

She was just now learning how to be that girl, the one who didn't jump every time someone said her name in a hallway, and it was as weird as it was strangely amazing. However, she didn't think she could ever adjust to being 'Brienne who got special attention from Jaime flippin' Lannister.' That was beyond all reasonable realms of consideration.

When Margie left her at the door to return to the bar, Brienne was half terrified that Jaime would come up to take her place. It had been hard enough to deal with him when he was just her annoying sort-of boss, she had no idea how to deal with an annoying boss who thought himself her protector.

Luckily, he kept his distance. Karaoke was his time to thrive on the sarcasm bred from other people's drunken musical aspirations, and she hoped that would distract him soon enough. She tried not to think about what he might be talking about with his brother, because it wasn't her, it couldn't be here, and she was being beyond silly to think otherwise. Right?

But then...there had to be an angle. She racked her brain trying to think of what possible motivation Jaime might have for defending her. Her mind turned over a hundred different scenarios which would have prompted his behavior while she checked IDs, going through the motions while the early birds began claiming spaces at the bar.

The most probable solution she could manage to come up with was one which brought up a whole mess of ugly emotions. And it was still ridiculous...or at least she hoped it was. Because of her reasons, and there was no way Hyle could have gotten to Jaime...was there?

The idea was almost too humiliating too think of.

Luckily it didn't take long for the crowd to finally begin to pick up and occupy her thoughts from her own internal dialogues. When the line outside started forming, she didn't have time to think of much else besides calculating birthdays in head and gauging the authenticity of driver's licenses. In a college town, she had more than a few fakes over the course of the night, and exerting her authority over the gutsy teenagers gave her confidence the kind of boost it so sorely needed.

They were almost at capacity when things started to get weird. And considering how the night had already started out, she thought that was saying a lot.

She had just gotten the heads up from Tyrion that she could let ten more people in, give or take considering the outflow, when she saw a familiar face in the line. She might not have recognized him if he wasn't in the exact same state as when she had first seen him...completely obliterated.

Theon Greyjoy wasn't from the South and hadn't even gone to school here, but he moved down a little over a year ago and had become a fixture in the town's bar scene since. Rumor had it he dropped out of college himself back in undergrad, and had followed his best friend Robb Stark to Kings when Sansa's oldest brother came down to attend law school. Evidently old family money had cemented him a job that wasn't entirely on the level, but still ensured him plenty of time for socializing. Because even without being a student, the guy had become a sort of legend for his partying and womanizing tendencies.

Brienne, of course, did not know him from that sort of scene. She had only been to one party since coming to college, and Theon wasn't there. That probably meant it wasn't even a good party, but it wasn't like she had anything to judge it by. The only reason she had gone in the first place because Renly invited her, and she had been so excited her she could barely nod her head yes. He had invited everyone at the bar, she later learned, but at the time she felt flushed and special and had spent the entire week leading up to the night thinking up topics of conversation. 

The feelings of elation quickly dissipated when she found herself side-hugged and dismissed. She hadn't even gotten a chance to use the ice-breakers she had spent so much time memorizing, because after their initial hello she barely even saw him for the rest of the night. Renly had a lot of friends, and she found out she wasn't anything out of the ordinary with them.

At least Sansa had been there. And tipsy Sansa required no feedback for conversation, so Brienne had sat there and sulked into her Sprite.

Anyway, Theon hadn't been at that party, but if he had, she imagined he would have looked quite the same as he did now. Bleary eyed, stumbling, absolutely reeking of liquor...not like a man who needed another drink.

He didn't seem to share that opinion, though, as he attempted to enter the bar without any pretense of sobriety.

Grabbing his shoulder, she stopped him before he got over the threshold. "Oh no you don't, I think you're done for the night."

The dark haired man blinked at her slowly, a delirious look on his face as though he wasn't quite sure what to make of her. She had seen it many times before, and never with good results.

"Ishh cool man, I've got peoples here."

"I know you do. We've been through this before, remember?"

He screwed his eyes up at her, squinting, and she figured that no, he had no memory of ever having been here before. Which honestly, she should have figured.

"Wait...are you a girl?"

Brienne pulled a face, in part from the comment and also from the scent of alcohol which wafted her way with it."Okay, definitely time to get you home. Let's call your 'people' shall we? Sansa!"

"Shansha? Whash she doing here?"

"She works here, remember?" But then again,of course he didn't. She doubted he could remember his own name right now, judging by the way he was leaning against the brick wall like his life depended on it. At least he wasn't an argumentative drunk, and she could continue to check a few more people in while they had this conversation. Karaoke was about to start, so there weren't many people leaving to balance out the incoming crowd and the bar would probably be full shortly.

"Shansha hash a job? She's a baby!"

"No she isn't, and yes, she does. But hey, wait, if you weren't talking about Sansa, who did you mean was here?"

She didn't get an answer to her question though, because the object of their conversation squeezed through the crowds to answer her call, bottle still in hand. "Theon? Goodness gracious, look at you. And by the way, I'm the same age as your girlfriend,so if I'm a baby that makes you a pedophile. Geez, I don't know how Jeyne puts up with you."

Theon's eyes lit up when he caught sight of the jäger by Sansa's side, and she slapped his hand away as he began reaching for it. Probably a little harder than the situation required, but Brienne couldn't fault her for it.

"No way, I think you're beyond cut off for the night Greyjoy. I'm calling Jeyne to come pick you up."

"You hit me!" He cried, cradling his hand and looking shocked. "You hurt my hand Shansha, and I'm going to tell Robb on you!"

"Yeah, because I'm sure you will have impeccable recollection of all this tomorrow, Mr. IDontKnowMyOwnLimits."

"Nuh-uh! I'm going to tell hims tonight!"

Sansa paused in dialing Jeyne's number and cut her eyes at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

A bad feeling washed over Brienne, and her head jerked down to stare at the line while scanning the faces with a sense of dread. "Umm, Sansa?"

"Just a sec, Brienne. What do you mean,'tonight' Theon? Where is my brother?"

"Sansa, he said something about-"

"I'm telling Robb that you beat me, and ow ow ow my hand hurts! He'sh gonna be soooo mad at you!"

"He mentioned 'people' who are his-"

"Tole you! Tole you Shansha! He sooo mad!"

"Theon, what-

"Sansa?"

"Robb?"

"Sansa!"

"Jon!"

"Hello wench, thought you might be getting thirsty?"

"Jaime Lannister, you get away from my baby sister right now! What is going on here and why in the seven hells aren't you wearing any clothes Sansa!?"

"My hands hurts. Somebody tell Jeyne to come kiss it better."

"SHUT UP THEON!"


	6. No man no cry

This couldn't be good.

Brienne didn't know the entire background behind the Starks and the Lannisters, but she got the impression the two families weren't entirely fond of each other...to say the least.

Mrs. Stark hadn't been one to talk about such things of course, but the situation with Joff was in full steam right about the time of her internship and she heard things. He was expelled, which was saying something considering his grandfathers connections, but some bad blood still existed. The rest of the family evidently weren't as willing to forgive as Sansa was, though, and her working for the brothers did tend to throw a bit of a kink in things. 

Sansa's parents were aware of her employers (if not the nature of her uniform), and they must have been fairly okay with it, but it appeared they hadn't shared that information with the rest of the family.

Robb Stark and Jon Snow were not what Brienne would ever deem scrawny guys. Robb had played ball in undergrad, and Jon was just as muscular standing next to him. Together, fit, young and in full-blown big brother mode, they made a team which any other man would have found himself very nervous to be facing.

But then again, other men weren't like Jaime Lannisters.

Only him.

Jaime might have a good fifteen years on Sansa's brother, but he also had several inches and more than a few pounds of lean, toned...err, well, he was certainly in shape for his age, to say the least. Like Margie had said, he used to box in the service, and by the looks of him he hadn't slacked off in his training since his discharge.

If he was intimidated by the threat of two against one, he certainly didn't show it.

Well, technically it was three against one, but she didn't think Theon would be much help if it came to a fight.

"Oh look, it's a regular family reunion we've got here! Stark, Snow, have you come to share a drink with baby sister?"

"Don't talk about my sister!" Robb snarled, advancing upon the smirking Lannister with his brother close behind him.

"Robb stop!" Sansa cried out, flushed scarlet with embarrassment. Now the unwanted center of attention, she tried to cross her arms over her exposed skin while glancing hopelessly between her boss and brothers. "Umm, hey guys...what are you doing here?"

"Well, Theon called us to-hey, don't try to change the subject Sansa! Never mind us, what are you doing here?!"

Helplessly, Sansa shifted her focus to her other brother, who was shrugging out of his flannel and handing it over to her. "Jon, please, make him calm down!" She pleaded while covering up with the oversized shirt.

"Actually Sansa, he's got a point. What are you doing here...like that?"

"She works here. For me, of course."

Really, Jaime wasn't helping his situation at all with all the infernal smirking he was doing. Brienne felt quite out of place caught in the squabble, especially given their current proximities.

"I'm sorry, but we are at capacity. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." She said, willing her voice to sound as strong as her stature suggested.

"You what! I'm sorry, but just who are you?" Robb asked incredulously, looking at Brienne as if just noticing her presence for the first time.

She could have sworn she heard a growl erupt from somewhere in the vicinity of Jaime's direction (which was absolutely ridiculous, of course), but in the din of the bar it was hard to tell. She was considering what her response to Robb should be, how she might calm the storm which was brewing so readily when suddenly Jaime was pushing her out of his way and charging in front of her.

Because he was looking for a fight, evidently. What else could all of that smirking been for?

"She isn't any of your concern, boy." He said in a voice low and tinged with a strong sense of threat. 

Brienne couldn't really see Robb's face, because somehow Jaime had gotten in between her and the rest of them, but she had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't going to like that. By all means he should have been terrified by Jaime's warning, but he was young and impulsive, and she would bet money that the reminder of his youth wasn't going to sit well with him.

"Don't call me that Lannister, I'm not a boy! But Sansa is just a girl, and she has no business being here! Especially not with the likes of you!"

"Me? Oh come now, I'm hardly a threat to your dear sister." The underlying implication that he was, on the other hand, a threat to the brother, seemed to fall on deaf ears. Robb's emphatic scowl did little but to make him appear even more childish next to Jaime.

"Yeah, I'm sure. You don't scare me, you know. Come on Sansa, we're leaving." Her brother ordered, reaching out to grab her arm. Twisting away, she sidled up next to Brienne for protection.

"Robb, no! I've got a shift to finish."

"I'm afraid she has a point." Jaime agreed, stepping between the two women to sling an arm around bother their shoulders. Robb's eyes looked about ready to bulge out of their sockets at the sight, and Brienne hoped everyone else was distracted enough by the sight not to notice the fiery blush consuming her face. "I can't just let you waltz away with one of my employees on one of our busiest nights."

Shrugging out of his embrace, Brienne pondered Jaime's sudden interest in the bar she hadn't even known he was co-owner of until a few weeks ago. She doubted he really cared at all and was overemphasizing his involvement, for nothing more than to drive Robb Stark batty.

"I don't care what night it is, there is no way I'm letting my sister stay here...especially with you!"

"Yes, I think you've communicated that quite thoroughly. I would be willing to negotiate a trade though."

"A what?" Brienne blushed again as the center of attention shifted to her, and cursed her outburst.

"You heard me wench. A trade. If we're to be robbed of Sansa in her uniform, I'm going to need to find someone else to fill the thing. I could make you do it, since I am your boss and all..."

Robb snickered under his breath before realizing his mistake, and then stared wide-eyed at her, feigning solemnness to hide his being caught. Sansa delivered a swift kick to his shin which left him muttering an apology, and Jaime's responding laugh sounded strangely strained.

"But that wouldn't do, because then we'd be lost without our fearless bouncer Brienne here to protect us. Besides, it's going to take someone with a bit more of a girlish figure to fill out those shorts...eh, Snow, what size waist are you?"

Sansa's other brother, the dark-haired one who had been trying to keep a wandering Theon from creeping on various females outside the bar, looked up in surprise at being addressed. His expression darkened as he processed Jaime's request, and he didn't seem to appreciate the sentiment regarding his appearance. Brienne had to admit though, her boss had a point.The boy was much prettier than her.

But then again, most people were.

"I think we're done here." Jon replied, grabbing Theon by his collar to hold him still. "Sansa, let's go."

"No."

"Sansa..."

"Oh, let's all be adults here shall we? You fellows are of legal drinking age aren't you?" Jaime said, squinting suspiciously at the younger men. "Why don't you just let sister dearest finish up the night, and in turn I'll get you a few beers on the house so you can keep an eye on her. You can play brother bear and I keep one of my best girls in the floor. Everyone wins!"

Except not, because...

"Jaime, I told you, we're at capacity, no one else can come in!" Brienne said in exasperation.

"So kick a few people out, that's what I pay you to do, right? On second hand, I'm pulling Loras back in, he can relieve you for a while and he can do the tossing. You need a break. And a drink. An maybe a proper-"

Brienne was exceedingly relived when Robb found his voice and cut Jaime off.

"As titilating as watching you try and seduce your employees is Lannister, my siblings and I are going to-"

"You're going to go sit your ass down where I can keep an eye on you Stark. All of you, got it? Now, follow me."

And sometimes, when Jaime Lannister spoke, people just listened.


End file.
